Franklin awards $94k FOG pretreatment contract to keep pace with restaurant boom

Franklin awards $94k FOG pretreatment contract to keep pace with restaurant boomThe City of Franklin is outsourcing its sanitary sewer pretreatment inspections to Monitoring and Management Services LLC as commercial food service growth outstrips internal staff capacity.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen reviewed a three-year, $93,960 contract with Monitoring and Management Services LLC (MMS) for pretreatment support services.

Water Management Director Michelle Hatcher noted that the city's single pretreatment employee cannot keep up with annual grease trap inspections required by municipal code.

The contract covers an estimated 600 food service establishment inspections over the three-year term, alongside compliance notifications and database tracking.

MMS, the incumbent provider, was the sole respondent to the June 2026 solicitation.

The City of Franklin, Tennessee, is turning to an outside contractor to manage its sanitary sewer pretreatment program as a rapidly growing commercial sector strains internal utility resources. During an August 25, 2026, work session, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen reviewed a proposed three-year, $93,960 contract with Monitoring and Management Services LLC (MMS) to provide pretreatment support services, focusing primarily on fats, oils, and grease (FOG) inspections. Water Management Director Michelle Hatcher explained that the city's municipal code requires annual inspections of restaurant grease traps and pretreatment practices to protect the sewer system. "The number of restaurants in Franklin does not go down, it only seems to go up," Hatcher told the board. "Our singular pretreatment person cannot keep up with that. So we need to bring in some outside help to kind of get a better handle on that." MMS, a Franklin-based firm and the city's incumbent provider, was the sole respondent to a June 2026 request for proposals. The firm's scope of work includes an estimated 600 food service establishment inspections over the three-year term—300 in the first year, 200 in the second, and 100 in the third. The declining inspection volume reflects the city's long-term goal to gradually transition more of the workload back to municipal labor over time. The contract also covers noncompliance notification follow-ups, consultation services, and the provision of a web-based FOG tracking database to monitor grease waste hauler pump events and equipment certifications. Pretreatment services are funded annually through the city's Water Reclamation Facility operating budget. The contract includes two optional one-year extensions, potentially bringing the total period of performance to five years.